How To Avoid These Costly Start-Up Mistakes With Your Business

How To Avoid These Costly Start-Up Mistakes With Your Business

How To Avoid These Costly Start-Up Mistakes With Your Business

January 14, 2015Anita Ginsburg

It’s a story as old as time: someone starts up a great business, only to see it flop within the first year. Luckily, there are common mistakes that new businesses owners can learn from without experiencing it themselves.

Being Too Set and Inflexible With Your Idea

If you’re convinced you have a killer idea, that’s great. Making money with it is a whole other story, though. If you quickly realize that consumers aren’t taking to your business, you have to change up your plan. Some business owners are too committed to their original idea, even if there isn’t a market for it. Unless you want your business to go under, you’ll have to be flexible.

Hiring the Wrong Team

If you’re not starting up your business all on your own, you’ll have to hire some people to help out. Make sure to choose people with complementary, but not necessarily the same, skills and talents. Additionally, everybody should have the same business goals and work ethic.

Having a Lack of Focus

As you build a business, your goals will undoubtedly change, but have to start somewhere. It’s important to always be focused on what you want to accomplish and how you’re going to get there. Reassessing your strategy is part of having focus, so make sure to regularly look at your plan and change it as necessary.

Saving and Charging Too Little

Unless you’re starting a business that requires practically no overhead, you’ll need to have enough in savings to cover startup fees. Don’t assume you’re going to make all your money back right away. At the same time, make sure to charge enough for your products.

Forgetting to Make it Legal

Some startup owners launch their brand, have their logo designed, build a website, etc., just to find out that somebody else has their business name. Make sure that you set everything up the right way, including avoiding copyright infringements and protecting your assets. Contact an attorney for help.

You never want to rush into launching a business without a solid idea and business plan, but if you continue to put it off until everything is figured out, you’ll never get started. You could wind up wasting a lot of money instead of making some of it back if you continue to put off your startup. Realize that owning a business involves a lot of evolution and you’ll likely always be learning and adjusting your strategy to meet current demands.